A former Texas high school football coach was sentenced this week to 30 years in federal prison — and the geolocation data prosecutors used against him tells a story that’s hard to shake. When he first made contact with who he thought was a 14-year-old boy on Snapchat, he was standing 40 meters from Sabinal High School.
Kenneth Wayne Mulkey, 44, a former coach and teacher at Sabinal High School in Uvalde County, was sentenced after pleading guilty to attempted coercion and enticement of a minor. The case, which unfolded over several months in 2024 and 2025, exposed what federal prosecutors described as a predator who had worked his way into a position of trust over children — and then used it as cover. It’s the kind of story that’s easy to dismiss as an isolated incident. It isn’t.
What the Evidence Showed
On Oct. 11, 2024, Mulkey initiated contact on Snapchat with a user he believed to be a 14-year-old boy. He identified himself as a 40-year-old football and track coach. The conversation escalated quickly — he sent explicit photos and engaged in graphic discussions with the user. What he didn’t know was that law enforcement was on the other end. The geolocation data, which placed him just steps from the school at the time, became one of the more damning pieces of evidence in the case, reported KSAT.
Mulkey had been employed by Sabinal ISD since 2023, and before that, he’d worked in both Ingram and Hondo ISDs. He was arrested on Jan. 31, 2025, and a federal grand jury returned an indictment just weeks later, on Feb. 19. He faced two counts of attempted enticement of a minor but ultimately pleaded guilty to one on Aug. 11, 2025.
The Response From Federal Prosecutors
U.S. Attorney Justin R. Simmons didn’t mince words after sentencing. “I applaud our law enforcement partners who investigated this matter and ensured a child predator who had infiltrated our education system remains in federal prison for the next three decades,” he stated. The word “infiltrated” is deliberate — and pointed. It frames Mulkey not as someone who simply crossed a line, but as someone who sought out a role that gave him proximity to children.
That framing matters. Sabinal is a small community, the kind of town where a high school coach is a visible, trusted figure. Parents hand their kids over to these people every single day — at practice, on road trips, in classrooms. The breach of that trust isn’t just a legal matter. It cuts deeper than a courtroom can fully address.
A Pattern That Demands Scrutiny
How does someone like this move through multiple school districts without detection? Mulkey had worked in at least three separate Texas ISDs before his arrest. That’s not unusual in small-town education, where teacher shortages push districts to hire quickly and ask questions later. Still, the trail he left across Ingram, Hondo, and Sabinal raises uncomfortable questions about the gaps in how schools vet and monitor staff over time — not just at the point of hiring.
The 30-year sentence is among the more severe outcomes in cases of this type under federal guidelines. Mulkey will be in his mid-70s before he’s eligible for release — if he ever is. For the community of Sabinal, that may offer some measure of closure. But it doesn’t answer the harder question: how many more are out there, still coaching, still teaching, still 40 meters from a school?
